Holding up a green Gatorade bottle in one hand and a slip of paper in the other, coach Brennan Dean concludes an exhausting, activity-packed day with a two-part demonstration.

“On this piece of paper, you’re going to write a personal goal,” Dean says to the 40 Torrey Pines volleyball players, three assistant coaches and a team manager congregating in a circle next to his pool.

“It’s a promise of something that you’re going to contribute to this team.”

Each teammate scribbles something on a notecard before stuffing it inside a plastic bottle, inked with initials of every member of the program.

Once finished, Dean passes out unlit candles.

“Right now, it’s dark and cold and it’s tough to see everyone,” Dean says as the sun gradually descends behind him. “We’re going to go around and I want you to share what inspires you, what keeps you going and then light the candle next to you.”

Before Dean begins the vigil, the Falcons coach reflects.

“Kristen, my wife, is my inspiration,” he says while sharing personal moments about his spouse of four years.

Each member of the group mimics his actions during their turn, sprinkling in their own inspirations, until it comes full circle.

“We are a brighter and stronger group than we are as an individual,” Dean says.

“If someone’s candle ever goes out, we have friends right next to us that we can lean on to relight our candle.”

Dean, who assumed the head coaching reigns from Jim Harrah in 2010 after coaching club volleyball for eight years, created this type of ceremony for a purpose.

It was necessary to demonstrate how critical team building and chemistry would be to the team’s success.

Individually, Torrey Pines was oozing with talent. At the beginning of the season, the Falcons had six NCAA Division I commitments — Katelyn Cuff, Madison Dutra, Reilly Buechler, Maddy Kerr, Jennie Frager and Ryann Chandler — a U.S. youth national team player in Savannah Rennie and two other potential D-I players.

Because of it,

PrepVolleyball.com ranked Torrey Pines No. 1 in the country to start the season instead of other, more conventional choices.

The website passed on Los Angeles Marymount, which finished second in Division I of the California Interscholastic Federation a year ago, fourth in the nation and fielded quality players from the Sunshine Volleyball Club.

It passed on Papillion-La Vista South, the Nebraska state champion program which had triumphed in 82 consecutive matches and boasted three players ranked among the top 15 college recruits.

It even passed on Louisville Assumption, which won two prestigious national tournaments — the Asics Challenge and the Durango Fall Classic — and finished eighth in the nation, losing only one match in 2011.

“There are very few teams that have strengths in every position that we do,” Dean said. “When we get hot and other teams get hot, I think there are probably only three teams that can probably beat us when we are firing on all six cylinders.”

The girls understood how good they were, too. The unspoken hope was to finish the season undefeated, validating the choice to place them above the rest. More openly, they admitted their goal was to bring Torrey Pines its first CIF volleyball state championship.

Dean took no issue with that — he set his sights on a championship, too. However, he understood, more than any of his players, how difficult reaching that goal would be.

The veteran club coach has seen talented teams fall apart before, torn apart by complacency, bickering and petty rivalries.

Attempting to avoid such issues, Dean introduced the Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum — “out of many, one” — into his player’s vocabulary and had the words etched into team practice apparel. It became the Falcons’ mantra.

“Talent is never enough to win championships is my belief. If you just rely on talent, you play like individuals. That’s when selfishness rears its head into a team. Without team chemistry, we would have a bunch of prima donnas,” Dean said.

“I’ve seen teams that are not as talented and maybe underrated accomplish great things through teamwork, perseverance, working together just like I’ve seen teams with tremendous amounts of talent underachieve.”

Ego. Entitlement. Resentment. Personal aspirations. According to Dean, incorrectly managing talent brings all of the above. And when those become the forefront and the team aspect of volleyball festers, problems occur.

“That’s when individuals will start pointing fingers at each other and things unravel quickly,” Dean said.

“Talent turns off. Talent doesn’t buy into systems. Talent stops listening to the coach. Talent stops being full talent at points. The team, however, can keep our talent at a high level. Keep them grounded and focused. A team will lift them up, push them through situations when the talent does struggle.”

This team had the added pressure of the national preseason No. 1 ranking.

That’s why Dean’s goal for this Torrey Pines team, perhaps the most talented group he’d ever coached, had little to do with winning state or national titles.

“I want to be able to develop this group into a cohesive unit, cultivate a family environment, create an atmosphere where playing together, playing for one another is encouraged. I have expectations for myself to accomplish that goal,” Dean said.

“And our team goals are to win league, win CIF and make a strong push at state, hopefully getting to that Irvine match.”

Accomplishing those goals, Dean believed, started with the girls understanding the importance of working together. Understanding that, together, the goals would be possible to attain.